New UAW Deal Nixes Free Divorces And Bankruptcies For Members

No more free divorces, bankruptcies and wills for General Motors' autoworkers, not if the GM-UAW tentative labor contract is ratified in voting over the next few days.

Free legal services -- a benefit cherished and used for decades by many autoworkers -- will be phased out after 2014 under the tentative deal.

That would put an end to a benefit that few Americans enjoy, said John Challenger, CEO of consulting firm Challenger Gray & Christmas. "It's a very unusual benefit. It seems like it is an end of an era," he said.

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LexSucks - 9/26/2011 2:12:52 PM

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It's all Obama's fault!!

Agent009 - 9/26/2011 3:23:19 PM

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It makes you wonder what other sweet heart deals are buried in there.

theman440 - 9/27/2011 12:54:02 AM

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Doesn't it though !

1c3am5 - 9/27/2011 6:53:53 AM

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While I'm glad to see this worthless benefit disappear, if you'd care to hear the truth from an actual UAW employee rather than a newspaper that spins everything to please their newspaper-guild union-breaking masters corporate masters at Gannet/Knight-Ridder...

The service was more like a free consultation with an inept 22-year-old lawyer. I don't know what imaginary formula they use to calculate the value, but if I were a partner in a "real" law office, I'd make my junior staff do this kind of work just to get people in the door and hook them for services they'd have to pay for.

In reality, unlike the salacious headline, I don't know a single person who used this service for "real" legal work. I know several people who used the service to write simple wills... The kind of stuff you can get free on the internet.

Good riddance to the benefit, and the money I paid annually to the IRS as taxes on the "service" regardless if I used it.

1c3am5 - 9/27/2011 11:39:24 AM

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To be divorced, one has to be married in the first place.

And as long as we're on the family-values train... Nothing destroys them faster than poverty wages. As a "full pay" UAW worker, I could afford to have a wife stay home with children, own my home, and a decent car. Because I've invested wisely and lived even somewhat "below" my means, I also own income property.

So contrast this livestyle to many of my tenants, all based on instant gratification, because they see no hope for anything long-term. On $13 an hour w/no benefits, they'll never see property ownership, kids in college or retirement. So they screw for entertainment, buy huge TV sets, escape into video games and eat their weight in salty/sweet foods.

By championing the demise of decent-wage jobs, you've helped create a permanent renter-class with an unstable family life. They sometimes try to mimic the actions of eras gone by with traditional ceremonies like a wedding, but lack the skills (and finances) to make it last.

Long story short, I'd wager that divorce is less an issue for UAW families than the rest of the no-middle-class nation. Having lived in both manufacturing rich Detroit (suburbs) and 3rd-world-nation Phoenix, I feel somewhat confident in saying this.